The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a tremendous challenge for National Statistical Offices that are unable to meet the data demands of the SDG infrastructure. Far more complex and four times more expansive than the Millennium Development Goals data infrastructure, the SDG framework comprises 232 unique indicators, and for many of these, little if any data presently exists. According to some recent estimates, not a single country is able to provide data on every indicator, and most countries are able to provide one or more data points on only 55% of the indicators.

As noted in the 2022 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Report, most SDG data remains aggregated, making it difficult to assess the experience of vulnerable groups and ensure no one is left behind. More than just a matter of statistical capacity then, missing data can result in rendering certain issues and segments of the world population effectively invisible, thereby cutting them out of policy-making processes.

In light of these data gaps, the United Nations has underscored the need to strengthen national statistical capacity while endorsing the potential value of alternative unofficial data sources, such as big data, geospatial data, and citizen-generated data, in tracking SDG progress. More than just a technical matter, building the data capacity of the United Nations and global governance structures as a whole will necessarily raise new political and ethical dilemmas, notably around questions of transparency, accountability, privacy, and inequality.

The growing turn to data as a means of knowing and governing global problems requires a multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral dialogue. As a first exercise to consolidate a multistakeholder forum in International Geneva working in and around these critical themes, this round table event brings together key representatives from international organizations, academia, and civil society to reflect on the practices, challenges, and futures of the SDG data system.

Introductory Remarks

• Monique J. Beerli, Executive Director of the Global Governance Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute

Roundtable Panelists

• Anu Peltola, Acting Director of Statistics at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
• Steve MacFeely, Director of Data and Analytics at the World Health Organization (WHO)
• Moira Faul, Executive Director and Researcher at Network for International Policies and Cooperation in Education and Training (NORRAG)
• Claire Melamed, CEO of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data 
• Vincenzo Chiochia, Director and Head of AI Insights and Engagement at Deloitte Switzerland

Co-Moderators

• Trine Schmidt, Policy Advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the SDG Lab
• Monique J. Beerli

Join us for this month's Geneva SDG Community Coffee where, in partnership with CERN IdeaSquare, we will zoom in on how to foster innovation for SDG action in Geneva and beyond.

The event will also be an opportunity to share your thoughts and activities related to fostering innovation for the SDGs. It will be an open mic event, but we would be grateful if you could shoot us an email in advance if you'd like to share a few words. Please write to us at [email protected]

Speakers:

• Welcome remarks – Marie-Laure Salles, Director of the Graduate Institute
• What can we learn about innovation from physics? – Laura Wirtuavori and Catarina Batista, CERN IdeaSquare
• The Geneva Trialogue on Open Innovation – Afroditi Anastasaki, UNITAR

Register by September 27 COB at the latest to save your seat.

IISD will be participating in the 2022 edition of Geneva Trade Week, which will take place in person and online from September 26-30, 2022. The Geneva Trade Week is convened by the Geneva Trade Platform alongside the WTO Public Forum, complementing those conversations taking place at WTO headquarters throughout the week.

This year’s edition of Geneva Trade Week will take a deep dive into various issues at the nexus of trade and sustainability. It will also focus on the latest developments, key issues, and road ahead for the joint initiatives underway among groups of WTO members, including those on trade and environment, electronic commerce, and investment facilitation. The Geneva Trade Platform is based within the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Centre for Trade and Economic Integration.

Below are the sessions where IISD speakers will be participating. Please note that registration for all sessions can be completed through the Geneva Trade Week website.

Events

Advancing Sustainability in Agriculture – Multilateral Options

September 26, 2022, at 16:00 CET

Registration: https://genevatradeweek.ch/agenda/agriculture-subsidies/

This session will look specifically at the role of the multilateral trading system, including the WTO, in supporting efforts to make the agricultural sector more sustainable, in parallel to the ongoing negotiations among WTO members on issues such as agricultural domestic support, public stockholding for food security, and the Special Safeguard Mechanism. This session is being convened jointly by the Geneva Trade Platform and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

IISD’s Facundo Calvo will participate in this discussion.

The WTO's Public Forum is taking place from September 27 to 30, 2022, in Geneva, Switzerland. The theme of this year's Public Forum is "Towards a sustainable and inclusive recovery: Ambition to action." Specifically, this year's event looks at how trade can contribute to post-pandemic economic recovery, as well as how trade rules can be strengthened and government policies improved to create a more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive trading system. Please note that you must be registered for the WTO Public Forum to attend.

IISD Co-organized Events

The Trade System is Changing: Can it deliver for the future?

• Co-organized with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and CUTS International, Geneva
• September 27, 2022, 15:45–17:00

Regional and national stakeholders, including businesses and consumers, are increasingly looking to trade policy for solutions that help advance other policy priorities, from economic growth and development to fair trade and environmental protection. The outcomes from the WTO’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June show that the WTO can respond to these imperatives but also how difficult it is to produce agreements that live up to expectations. This interactive, audience-led session will explore how the system of trade rules and the process of their development are changing and will ask what these developments mean for the future of trade policy.

Moderator

Alice Tipping, Lead, Sustainable Trade and Fisheries Subsidies at IISD, is moderating this workshop.

Watch it live here.

International Trade Cooperation to Address Plastic Pollution: Options and pathways to enhance environmental outcomes

• Co-organized with The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Forum on Trade, Environment & the SDGs (TESS Forum), the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• September 29, 2022, 17:30–18:45 CET

The session will identify and explore concrete ways in which international cooperation on trade could support efforts to reduce plastic pollution. Panellists will address the relevance of trade and trade policy in the fight against plastic pollution, as well as specific ways in which cooperation around trade can make a difference in reducing plastic pollution. They will also identify concrete options and pathways for pursuing such cooperation, including in the context of ongoing work within the WTO's Informal Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade (IDP).

Moderator

Ieva Baršauskaitė, Senior Policy Advisor at IISD, is moderating this working session.

Watch it live here.

IISD Speaking Events

The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies: What happened at MC12 and what comes next?

• Organized by the World Trade Organization
• September 28, 2022, 14:00–15:15 CET

The objective of this session is to provide an overview of the new WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, how members reached this groundbreaking result at MC12 this past June, and what the future agenda on fisheries subsidies at the WTO could look like.

Alice Tipping, Lead, Sustainable Trade and Fisheries Subsidies at IISD, is participating in this working session.

Building Resilience, Circular Economy, and an Inclusive Energy Transition: How can trade policy help?

• Co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations Office and International Organizations in Geneva and the Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the WTO and other International Economic Organizations in Geneva
• September 28, 2022, 15:45-17:00 CET

At this interactive and inclusive session, experts and audience members will discuss how circular economy solutions can help drive the energy transition and the role of trade.

Alice Tipping, Lead, Sustainable Trade and Fisheries Subsidies at IISD, is moderating this working session.

Towards a Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery: Ambition to action

• Organized by the World Trade Organization
• September 29, 2022, 14:00–15:15 CET

The panellists will examine how the WTO can be a catalyst for the global transition to a green economy and assist the technological transformation required, thus helping ensure that all countries, businesses, and individuals can reap the benefits of the digital transformation.

Alice Tipping, Lead, Sustainable Trade and Fisheries Subsidies at IISD, is participating in this plenary debate.

Trade and Environment: Convergence of bilateral and regional agreements with the WTO

• Organized by Trade Tank Mx Consultoría TTMx (TradeTankMx)
• September 29, 2022, 14:00–15:15 CET

This session will analyze and consider the potential implications that environmental measures have for the multilateral trading system.

Florencia Sarmiento, Policy Analyst at IISD, is participating in this working session.

Rethinking Trade Rules on Subsidies to Enhance Sustainable Development

• Organized by TradeExperettes
• September 29, 2022, 17:30–18:45 CET

This session will include a discussion on subsidy rules and ways in which they can be reformed to reflect contemporary concerns. Panellists will analyze how existing rules facilitate or limit WTO members' ability to promote sustainable development and assess possible solutions, including the necessary measures to adapt the current legal regime on subsidies to promote climate change-responsive measures and a shift toward net-zero.

Alice Tipping, Lead, Sustainable Trade and Fisheries Subsidies at IISD, is participating in this plenary session.

Please note that further details on additional session participation may come closer to the date.

“In our fast-paced everyday lives, where we are all occupied with our respective bits and pieces of the sustainable development puzzle, the Geneva SDG Community provides members with an informal and easy way to stay connected with colleagues and our common goals,” said Trine Schmidt, Policy Adviser at IISD and the SDG Lab. “I believe the connection, mutual support, and inspiration that members of the Geneva SDG community can offer one another is key to staying motivated and energized, enhancing our joint efforts to achieve the SDGs.”

This interactive meeting will kick off with inspirational keynotes on mobilizing communities and networks for the SDGs followed by a lightning round of presentations by members from the community. Join us to hear from:

Keynote speakers

• Marina Ponti, Director of the SDG Action Campaign (TBC)
• Nadim Choucair, Founder of the 2030 Cabinet and Co-founder of the Global Goals Directory 

Around the Geneva SDG Community

• Francesca Bosco, CyberPeace Institute
• Monique Beerli, Global Governance Centre at Geneva Graduate Institute
• Daniel Akinmade Emejulu, Microsoft
• Crispin Conroy, International Chamber of Commerce
• Noor Ali, Fondation Genevoise pour l’Innovation Technologique

The Annual Meeting will also leave plenty of time to network in smaller groups and provide participants with the opportunity to shape future activities of the Geneva SDG Community. 

The 14th Annual Forum took place in Abuja, Nigeria, on October, 11-13, 2022. The theme of this event was “Coherence in International Investment Governance, Crafting a Holistic Approach to Investments that Work for Sustainable Development.” 

Since the inaugural event in 2007, the Annual Forum has grown to become the premier platform for delegates from developing and emerging economies to convene and discuss the latest developments in investment law and policy.

This year, the forum included several panel discussions on the following topics:

• Recent Developments in International Investment Law, Policy-Making, and Arbitration in an Era of Overlapping Crises 
• Horizontal Coherence: Understanding the relationship between international investment law and other international laws 
• Vertical Coherence: Understanding the interaction among different levels of legal and policy instruments governing investment 
• Coherence in Investment Dispute Settlement: Global and regional processes 
• Bringing It All Together: Identifying key building blocks to ensure coherent investment policy-making 
• Guiding Principles for Crafting a Holistic Approach to Investment for Sustainable Development 

Participants also got the chance to discuss the following topics during breakout sessions:

• Sharing Recent Developments and Practical Experiences in Reforming Existing Old-Generation Investment Treaties 
• Reflecting on Options to Integrate Other Components of Sustainable Development in Ongoing Investment Negotiations and Reform Processes 
• Developing a Selection of Enabling Mechanisms to Ensure Coherent International Investment Governance 

At the end of the forum, participants had the opportunity to network and reconnect with each other after two years without an in-person forum.

Event sessions were also broadcast for virtual attendees.

The 2022 UN Ocean Conference took place from June 27 to July 1, 2022, in Lisbon, Portugal. It brought together world leaders, public and private sector experts, and civil society to discuss how to scale up innovative, science-based actions to protect the world’s ocean.  

IISD reported on the discussions through our Earth Negotiations Bulletin. Our experts also participated in the following three side events: 

Launch of the 2022 FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture Report—Towards Blue Transformation 

1:15 p.m. on June 29, 2022  

This side event, hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), launched The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report—the biennial flagship report of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division. The 2022 edition is focused on how to achieve a “blue transformation,” defined as a vision for resilient, equitable, and sustainable aquatic food systems. 

Alice Tipping, Lead, Sustainable Trade and Fisheries Subsidies at IISD, moderated a panel of experts as they discussed the report’s highlights and the challenges faced by the sector.

Trade Facilitation for a Sustainable Blue Economy 

1 p.m. on June 29, 2022  

This side event, hosted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat, FAO, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), hosted a multi-stakeholder panel to discuss the role of trade facilitation in helping to build a sustainable blue economy. 

Ieva Baršauskaitė, Senior Policy Advisor at IISD, participated in the panel and provided insights on how to achieve the trade-related targets of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. 

Addressing Key Challenges in Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Seafood Trade Policy for Sustainable Development 

4 p.m. on July 1, 2022 

IISD co-organized this side event alongside UNCTAD, the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea at the UN Office of Legal Affairs, the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium—as well as other partners, including the governments of New Zealand and Ecuador, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the University of British Columbia. It discussed the most pressing sustainability challenges facing fisheries, aquaculture, and the seafood industry. 

Ieva Baršauskaitė, Senior Policy Advisor at IISD, joined the panel of speakers as they outlined the role that trade policy can play in supporting the sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture.

Register Now

The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) will convene in-person for its 18th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on November 7–10, 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland and hosted by UNCTAD. Sessions will also be live streamed for virtual attendees.

This year’s event theme is Critical Minerals and the Energy Transition and will include sessions on important sub-themes with speakers from various governments and other organizations:

• View the agenda (English, French, Spanish)

• Registration instructions (English, French, Spanish)

• More information on the IGF site (English, French, Spanish)

There is an increasing need and opportunity for governments, civil society organizations (CSOs), financial institutions, and investors to ensure responsible land-based investment in agriculture, mining, and other land-intensive sectors. Ways to address this include developing a clear framework of laws, policies, institutions, and incentives; effective advocacy modalities for CSOs; and viable multistakeholder partnerships for improved implementation.

Between May 23 and 26, 2022, the International Institute for Environment and Development, representing the ALIGN project, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and Oxfam will present a joint plenary discussion on good practices to promote responsible action in large-scale land-based investment during the Global Land Forum in Jordan. The session will discuss good practices in promoting responsible land-based investments, including effective modalities for CSOs to advocate for financial institutes’ accountability; the implementation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Guidelines for responsible investment in food, agriculture and forestry; and legal empowerment for the implementation and integration of international guidelines for responsible investment. The session will showcase improved policies and practices and raise awareness of technical and legal tools available for governments, CSOs, investors, and communities.

Moderator: Barbara Codispoti—Global Land Program Lead, Oxfam Novib

Plenary Speakers

• Nyaguthii Maina—law advisor, Agriculture, Trade & Investment, International Institute for Sustainable Development, Economic Law & Policy Program
• Imke Greven—land rights policy advisor, Oxfam Novib
• Nathaniah Jacobs—senior researcher, Natural Resources Group, Legal Tools Team, International Institute for Environment and Development

The Global Land Forum brings together NGOs, research centres, government agencies, institutions, and community-based organizations to build a vision and roadmap for land governance based on local and national priorities. Learn more about the Global Land Forum here.

If GDP growth is weak—or, worse, negative—things are said to be going poorly, and intervention to change course will be called for. GDP was not designed for this purpose, though, and there are many reasons why increasing GDP is not correlated with increased well-being. GDP fixation leads decision-makers to favour policies with narrow economic benefits for those alive today, even if those policies undermine well-being in the long run. 

While agreement is growing that countries must move beyond GDP and adopt new measures of progress, just what those measures should be remains a matter of debate. Among the handful of credible alternatives to GDP is inclusive wealth—a powerful measure of sustainability. Inclusive wealth comprises the assets that underlie human well-being: natural, human, social, produced, and financial capital. Despite this, no government today measures inclusive wealth.

This seminar will explore adoption of inclusive wealth as a means of moving beyond GDP. Eminent speakers will explain what inclusive wealth is, how it relates to the sustainability of well-being, and how government policies would differ if inclusive wealth, rather than GDP, occupied the centre of decision-makers' dashboards. 

Moderator: Pedro Conceição, Director, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme.

Opening note:

• Lynn Wagner, Senior Director at International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

Keynote presentation:

• Diane Coyle, Professor, Bennett Professor of Public Policy, University of Cambridge

Panellists:

• Bambang Brodjonegoro, Lead Co-Chair, T20 Indonesia and Professor, Universitas Indonesia
• Pushpam Kumar, Chief Environmental Economist and Senior Economic Advisor, UN Environment Programme
• Erin Tansey, Director, Sustainable Inclusive Economies Program, International Development Research Centre